1. Field of Invention
This invention relates generally to packages for toys and playthings, and more particularly to a package adapted to stage a performance of a toy figure which resembles a known character, the package containing the figure, as well as stage props and a miniature stage necessary to the performance.
2. Status of Prior Art
A character, in the sense this term is used in the field of toys and playthings, is a personality created by an actor in a motion picture, stage or television show. Thus Charlie Chaplin, the silent movie star is still remembered for the character he created in the movie "The Tramp." This classic character who swings a cane as he walks, wears a derby hat, baggy pants and oversize shoes. The characters created by the team of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, the movie comedians, are classics, as are those created by The Three Stooges and the Marx Brothers.
While many of these characters go back in motion picture history at least 50 years, because movies involving these characters are often shown on television, these characters remain well known. Thus "Laurel and Hardy" are as familiar to children today as they were in their heyday.
Children who have seen these movies on a television screen have not only taken the characters to heart, but have committed to memory familiar bits of dialog. Thus in almost every Laurel and Hardy movie there is a climactic scene in which Oliver Hardy says to Stan Laurel "Here's another fine mess you've gotten me into, Stanley!"
Toy dolls and figures resembling celebrated characters are popular in the toy field, these figures being manufactured under a character license granted by the owner of the copyright. It is the usual practice to package a toy character in a box having a transparent cover, for then the contents of the box are visible. However, once the character is taken out of the box, the box has no further use and is discarded.
A child who plays with a toy figure resembling a character then seeks to recreate an activity in which the character was involved in a movie the child had seen. If this activity requires the character to turn his head, lift an arm or swing a leg, the child cannot imitate this activity if the figure is rigid and the arms and legs are not articulated. And if this activity requires the character to climb a ladder or paint a ceiling, the child must improvise props for this purpose.
Thus lacking in existing packages for toy characters are the props and other articles necessary for a child to simulate a performance involving the character.
In a typical package for a toy, whether the toy is a character figure, a toy vehicle or any other plaything, the package makes use of a carton having opaque walls. Hence the actual nature of the packaged toy is not evident to a prospective purchaser whose impression of the package contents is gained only from a picture of the toy printed on the face of the carton.
Since a package in accordance with the invention includes a box or carton having an extra panel or flap hinged to a wall of the carton, of prior art interest are the following references all of which show a similar arrangement:
A. U.S. Pat. No. 3,099,381--Meyer--"Extra Panel Carton" PA1 B. U.S. Pat. No. 5,293,994--Ankik--"Video Cassette Package" PA1 C. U.S. Pat. No. 5,548,235--Stone--"Gift Product" PA1 D. U.S. Pat. No. 5,641,062--Burton--"Combined Greeting Card and Gift Box Apparatus" PA1 E. European patent application 0455048 A1 (1991)--Lo Duca--"Box with a supplementary raisable panel prontable on both sides"